Attorneys

The son of Marie Hatch, the 97-year-old Burlingame woman who died March 3, filed a motion Tuesday to continue his mother’s lawsuit against her former landlord for elder abuse after he evicted her earlier this year.

“In my view, Marie Hatch died of a broken heart, from a broken promise,” Nanci Nishimura, a lawyer with Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy, wrote in a statement.

The elder abuse claim survives death and Gary Hatch, the evicted woman’s only son, seeks to be named as the successor in the complaint.

Nishimura and Nancy Fineman had taken on his mother’s case for free after her landlord David Kantz gave her a 60-day notice to vacate her home on California Drive where she lived for 66 years.

Hatch allegedly was promised by three generations of the home’s owners that she could rent the Burlingame home near downtown until she died.

Her roommate of 32 years, 85-year-old Georgia Rothrock, also faces eviction from the home and is considering filing her own lawsuit against Kantz, who allegedly inherited the home after a death in the family.

Rothrock must vacate the home by April 17. Hatch’s health allegedly started to deteriorate after she was told to vacate her home in February.

“There is no doubt that the callous eviction of Marie Hatch has caused her death,” Nishimura said the day after Hatch died.

Gary Hatch, 74, still works and provided emotional and financial support for his mother until her death.

She said Kantz lacked a moral compass when he moved to evict Hatch.

“My mother didn’t deserve to be treated like an old piece of furniture that could be thrown away. She really suffered badly after she learned she was being evicted,” Gary Hatch wrote in a statement... (To read the entire article, please click HERE)